Letters: Get informed, car makers, soccer star in town

We need heroes — people we look up to who champion a cause and inspire us to greatness.

On Saturday, Great Falls children and their families can meet Olympic gold medal soccer player Abby Wambach at the "Come Out and Play" event in Elks Riverside Park. Wambach is a hero for health. She will share her story, encouraging children and parents to live healthy, live wisely and give to their community.

Wambach will play at this event — not soccer, but games children and their families can replicate and enjoy in their own backyards and local city parks. Her message is simple: Get moving as a family, make activities part of your family routine and make healthy choices about what you eat and drink. Wambach's life story is touching and worth hearing.

Saturday's free "Come Out and Play" is scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon. All ages are welcome, so bring the whole family; no pre-registration required. Thirty activities will be offered, including old-time favorites like three-legged races, sack and egg races and hopscotch, as well as Zumba and wheelchair tennis and volleyball. Children can pledge to make healthy choices.

"Come Out and Play" is organized by Get Fit Great Falls and sponsored by local businesses and organizations. Many thanks to our major sponsors: Benefis, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Scheels, West Bank One, the Tourism Business Improvement District, Tribune, KRTV, Celtic Cowboy and others who've made this event possible.

Their commitment to making Great Falls a health-conscious community is admirable.

— Camille Consolvo,

Great Falls College MSU

— Jane Weber,

Cascade County Commission

Be an informed voter

Our general election is less than two months away, and it's important to educate ourselves about the important issues that confront us as a nation. Equally important are the attendant positions on those issues of the candidates running for political office.

Do those candidates present logical arguments for their positions — if they present any such justifications at all? Think about the ongoing erosion of our civil liberties, growing income disparity, human-caused climate change, money in politics and immigration and foreign policies. Representative democracy requires a knowledgeable electorate.

But knowledge alone is not enough. We must vote. Over the past decade, only about 55 percent of registered Montana voters participated in mid-term elections.

When asked what type of government our nation's founders had created, Benjamin Franklin responded, "A Republic, if you can keep it." The evidence today strongly indicates that our nation is moving away from such representative democracy toward plutocracy — government by the wealthy. Immense sums of money from corporations and hugely wealthy individuals are being used to buy political influence and propagandize the public, often with the effect that voters become so confused, disillusioned and apathetic that they stay away from the polls.

Until more of us care about the future that our current actions create for the generations to come, our nation's downward spiral toward plutocracy will continue. In the meantime, we get the government that we deserve, and we have no one to blame but ourselves.

— Lynn R. Kaeding,

Bozeman

Car manufacturer

In response to a July 14 letter from Sandy Richards, I was not at the July 4 parade, but who really cares what make or model of car the politicians were driving? What's that got to do with whether or not they support our troops or country?